French Toasts

Do you feel that Chinese New Year is approaching??

Yes, of course I know we have not past Christmas yet.

For me, it’s always Chinese New Year.  Frankly, I have not seen such anticipation in anyone else.

Every year, we go through this:

 

Me: Lailai, north wind's blowing, Chinese New Year coming's you know?

Mother-in-law (smiling): Goodness, how old are you??

*          *         *          *         *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *          *

 

Me:  Lao kong, north wind's blowing, Chinese New Year's coming you know?

 

Husband: HA HA HA ...(with that loving stare I don't get often after 15 years of marriage)

 

He is simply puzzled by that kind of anticipation and excitement ...

   

Oooh ... I love this.

 

I love it with ketchup.

 

My kids love it with maple syrup or honey.

Should be good with any kind of jam, right?

So easy, so fast, no exact measurement is needed.  

 

It's all agaration (estimation). I realized I am cooking with agaration more and more.   I used to complain about my dear mother-in-law not being precise … sign of aging??

 

Almost impossible to get this wrong.

 

If you did, er.... no comments.

Ingredients

6 slices of sandwich bread

2 eggs

40ml of milk, I don’t measure, I aga-aga (estimate)
Pepper to taste
Soy sauce to taste, I use about half teaspoon
Cooking oil or butter

Directions

 

1.       Mix all ingredients except bread together in a wide shallow bowl, and stir to incorporate well.

2.       Heat a flat pan, low to medium heat, and oil pan with cooking oil or butter.

3.       Soak bread in egg mixture, both sides, till bread is coated with egg.

4.       Pan fried under low/medium heat, 1 to 2 minutes on each side.

5.       Remove from pan onto a plate.

6.       Drizzle with choice of dressing or simply eat it on its own.

 

 
This is a good way to handle not-so-soft bread, or the head and tail slices of a loaf. I make scramble egg with the left over egg mixture.

Pan Fried Salmon Fillet

It's unbelievable; it’s September already…

I have given up trying to align my sense of time and the actual time.

Have you heard of this Chinese saying: 人生苦短? Meaning life is bitterly short.

Thank god, it’s bitterly short!! Can you imagine if it is bitterly looonnnngggggg …..???

So count your blessings.

I am counting my blessings, hopefully often enough.

Ironically, I don’t give shit (sorry, I did not forget this is a food blog) to many things now.

I won’t waste my stomach on bad food.
I won’t waste my patience to make a point to the impossible (people).

I waste the food, not my health.
I am a lesser perfectionist.

I am learning to buy time, literately.

So many things, so little time …

This is a quick hunger fix, yet so very yummy.

It is so simply, I could give you the recipe in two lines.

Give a few cuts on the salmon fillet (skin side). Rub with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Pan fried, about 4 minutes, on each side. Serve with Pretty Salad.

See, in less then 2 lines.
Man, I am good.

If you are a visual person like me, go to youtube and watch the video from the fowl-mouthed Gordon Ramsay.
Don't get me wrong; I like him, a lot in fact.
I like his impatience for the impossible (people), on top of many other qualities.  

P/S: something is not right with this dashboard, mouse is not working, attach link not is working as well. It's exhausting my patience. 

Barbeque Chicken Wings






                                                                                          Hakka Kampung Girl

  

Tell me, who does not like barbeque wings?

I have been making this for a long, long time; adjusting and tuning the recipe.  In all occasions, it has never failed me.



What

1 kg chicken wings

2 tablespoon BBQ Sprinkler (I use Cape Herb and Spice Company)

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 teaspoon of dark soya sauce (for color)

Marinade

5 tablespoon barbeque source

2 teaspoon honey mustard source

2 teaspoon honey

How

1.  Wash chicken wings and drain off excess water. Pierce chicken wings with a fork.

2.  Add BBQ marinade salt and garlic. Set aside for 1 hour; I usually leave the wings in the fridge overnight.

3.  Mix all ingredients for marinade and set aside.

4.  Place chicken wings on a grease a baking pan line with aluminum foil and bake at 200C for 20mins.

5.  Remove wings from oven and brush marinade on chicken wings.

6.  Return tray to oven and bake till sauce thicken, about 5 minutes.

7.  Remove from oven and enjoy.

I Am Turely Sorry ...

Dear Girl,

I know I should be ashamed of myself … I admit, wholeheartedly, that I am guilty.

I know I haven’t been  giving you the slightest attention for the past months … 13 months , to be exact. I know this is not going to make you feel any better, but I want you to know:  I do think of you every now and then … The fact is: I do miss you.

No, there is no one else; you are my only blog.  It's just that … there are so many more than just blogging, and … and so much have happened. 

Please … don’t get me wrong; I am not saying I shouldn’t have brought you into this cyber world; I do love you.   I thought you knew from the very beginning … that I do love Gardening, Reading, Criminal Dramas, and not least  Laze Around.   That was exactly the reason why it took me so long to start this relationship!

And stop being ridiculous, of course you are not the back-up.  Yes, I spend a lot of time with Gardening.  It’s not for me, it’s for the family.  Didn’t you see the quality time we had over dinner in the backyard?  How many family have one hour dinner (almost) everyday; talk and laugh like mad?  I mean like MAD!

Yes, you are right.   I should have known you needed my attention too and that I should have known the responsibility and effort and time and the commitment and what not to make this relationship work. 

I know I sound like a jerk … but you are just too demanding, or perhaps I was too demanding…??  I wanted you to look good, I wanted you to sound good .   I wanted you to be perfect.  And I still want those… You see what I mean??

And please, to make life easier for us both, don’t ever compare me with other bloggers!  I am who I am; you need to accept that. You need to forgive and forget … forget that you are still ‘classified’.  It’s not that I would be embarrassed  by you or anything; I am just …. not a public person.  Ok, I am afraid of being judge through you, especially by people I know!  You can understand that, right?

Having said all that; I promise that I will spend more time with you.  By the way, how do you like your page dressing, do you want to change it?  Pink wallpaper?  What about lime green?  I totally respect your decision; you just have to tell me.

Sincerely,

 CC

P/S: I have tried few new recipes, tweaked some old ones, and I have revamped  Gardening.  Can’t wait to show you.